06 November 2009

Mei Tai Baby Carrier

I have a Baby Bjorn, but Anna is so heavy that she hurts my back to carry her in it.  I want to carry her on my back.  I've wanted a mei tai carrier for a while but just couldn't pay the exorbitant prices people charge for them.  So, I found a free online pattern, severly altered it and came up with my own.  The fabric is stuff that Marie gave me a couple of years ago so the total cost for this mei tai carrier is about 50 cents, for the thread I used.  I was in a hurry so I didn't take detailed pictures but here is the finished product.  Anna was sleeping so I used Lily instead.  She was scared at first but warmed up to it quickly. 





7 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! I can't believe how quickly you made that! Good job! Looks really comfortable. The only thing I'm confused about is the open sides. I guess you can only carry older kids? Cause wouldn't a baby just fall out on one of the open sides?

M said...

Since Joanna hasn't had a chance to answer, I give it a try. For the back, you wouldn't want to carry a child who isn't able to sit up and self support, simply cause of the nature of the carrier. If you wanted you could make it a sack type carrier that would then have the closed sides, but then you would have to allow for the legholes and such, possibly making it a lot more work to make. To add extra support for the body though, the straps could go under the arms.

M said...

Oh and Jo, I want one now too.... Zoe is too heavy for the sling carrier and just tries and fights it too much. Whether this style would work better or not though, I don't know.... but her mama thinks it is worth a try!

Tina said...

That is great. I LOVED my sling, but as with ALL of those sorts of things they are crazy expensive for what is only a small bit of fabric (especially the sling... you can pay over $40 for those things and all it is is a big length of fabric with a few plastic rings on the end!)

Joanna said...

Yes, stupidly expensive.

I agree that the open sides are a bit of a concern. I'd use a sling to hold a much younger baby myself, even though in the tutorial I used she showed herself using it for an infant. She did have the baby on the front though. Lily liked being on my back, but Anna really likes being on the front. I assume it's a security thing and she can look up and see me there whenever she wants.

Joanna said...

Oh and I'll put the link in the post to the tutorial I used, but like I said, I altered it quite a bit. I didn't put any of the panels in that she talked about and several other things.

Joanna said...

Here's another pretty good tutorial.

man tai?

Also, I bought a pattern at Joann's when they were having a sale, and I totally forgot I had it. I can't send it to you to use if you want. There's a pattern for a sling also. I'd want it back so I can make a sling though, puhleeze. ;)